Yeah you can't stay on the foil when tacking as obviously you have to go around the front of the mast, this is an issue. You can foil gybe easily enough, although it takes practice.
I can't believe there are not bigger fleets, it is incredible racing and nationals were very competitive, particularly thanks to the NZ crew who came over and schooled us. The racing is different because the speeds are so high that the gains and losses can be huge and yeah there is a bit of banging the corners moth style but you get that with high apparent wind sailing.
The other thing is that a wider range of body types can be competitive. I used to race boats at a high level and it's something I always missed in windsurfing, I just stuck to wave sailing and freestyle. I tried formula once but at my weight of 70kg and not being very tall I was never going to be anywhere and the rigs and loads were ridiculous. It's different on the foil, us light weights can be much more competitive and the rigs and loads are much smaller, the PWA has set the max sail limit in 2020 to 9.0m, it's 10.0m this year.
Most of us at the nationals just used one rig and one foil, realistically to cover every racing option you need 2 sails and a large and regular front wing. The big front wing only helps in the real low end 6-10kts and really only Starboard offer that as a racing option at the moment. They will probably develop to be more efficient higher up the wind range but it's a similar story to the moths, as soon as you're well powered, the regular foil seems to be the go.
NSW state titles are this weekend at Kurnell, get amongst it